This week I have learned a very important lesson. Being BORED is not a bad thing.
In fact, the negative aspect of going screen-free with your kids can and will be flipped and even flip on it’s own, in time. Putting our phones away for an entire week (or more if I get my way) has turned into a family luxury all of the sudden.
In a world where our brains receive a constant typhoon of information via our screens, it’s a welcome relief to halt that influx of individualized stimuli. The result?
We suddenly have nothing to do.
When we find ourselves in this spot, seen as a void in the beginning, we are creating space for our minds to have downtime. To relax and release accumulated stress and also to return to a natural state of imagination, exploration and inventiveness. And I’m not talking about putting the screen down for a few hours. I mean days– weeks even. It’s magical.
The kids have especially shown me how detaching from screens is essential, so we can thrive elsewhere in life:
And while they are still asking me how many days and hours are left until they get their devices back, those requests are dwindling. Which means we are slowly getting back to the land of Here is how you make fun without having something or someone do it for you. Also known as: Parental Paradise.
So-Called Mom
Two thumbs and two toes up!
The real trick is taking them on a five hour road trip without screens.